💥Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (July Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Type: Prelims Only

  • Who are the Tharu Tribals?

    The Uttar Pradesh government has recently embarked upon a scheme to take the unique culture of its ethnic Tharu tribe across the world.

    The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterized by tall grasslands, scrub savannah, sal forests and clay rich swamps.

    Tharu Tribals

    • The community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks of lower Himalayas. Most of them are forest dwellers and some practised agriculture.
    • The word Tharu is believed to be derived from their, meaning followers of Theravada Buddhism.
    • The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.
    • According to the 2011 census, the Scheduled Tribe population in Uttar Pradesh was more than 11 lakh; this number is estimated to have crossed 20 lakh now.
    • The biggest chunk of this tribal population is made up of Tharus.
    • Members of the tribe survive on wheat, corn and vegetables are grown close to their homes. A majority still lives off the forest.

    Tharu language, food, and culture

    • They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.
    • In central Nepal, they speak a variant of Bhojpuri, while in eastern Nepal, they speak a variant of Maithili.
    • Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev and call their supreme being “Narayan”, who they believe is the provider of sunshine, rain, and harvests.
    • Tharu women have stronger property rights than is allowed to women in mainstream North Indian Hindu custom.
    • Standard items on the Tharu plate are bagiya or dhikri – which is a steamed dish of rice flour that is eaten with chutney or curry – and ghonghi, an edible snail that is cooked in a curry made of coriander, chili, garlic, and onion.

    What is this scheme about?

    • The UP government is working to connect Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the homestay scheme of the UP Forest Department.
    • The idea is to offer tourists an experience of living in the natural Tharu habitat, in traditional huts made of grass collected mainly from the forests.
    • Tharu homeowners will be able to charge tourists directly for the accommodation and home-cooked meals.
    • The government expects both domestic and international tourists to avail of the opportunity to obtain a taste of the special Tharu culture by staying with them, observing their lifestyle, food habits, and attire.

  • What is Havana Syndrome?

    Nearly four years after a mysterious neurological illness started to affect American diplomats in Cuba, China, and other countries, a report has found “directed” microwave radiation to be its “plausible” cause.

    Q.Microwave warfare is the new nuke. Discuss.

    The ‘Havana syndrome’

    • In late 2016, US diplomats in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds and experiencing odd physical sensations in their hotel rooms or homes.
    • The symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, and hearing loss, which have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.
    • Cuba had denied any knowledge of the illnesses even though the US had accused it of carrying out “sonic attacks”, leading to an increase in tensions.

    Possible factor: Microwave Weapons

    • “Microwave weapons” are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons, which aim highly focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
    • People exposed to high-intensity microwave pulses have reported a clicking or buzzing sound as if seeming to be coming from within your head.
    • It can have both acute and long-term effects — without leaving signs of physical damage.
    • These weapons are considered to be the cause of the “syndrome” whose symptoms include nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties.

    How did researchers deduce that?

    • The researchers have examined four possibilities to explain the symptoms — infection, chemicals, psychological factors and microwave energy.
    • The experts examined the symptoms of about 40 government employees.
    • The report concluded that directed pulsed RF (radio frequency) energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered.

  • Himachal wants GI status for five products

    The Himachal Pradesh government is trying to obtain GIs for five products from the state – Karsog Kulth, Thangi of Pangi, Chamba Metal Crafts, Chamba Chukh, and Rajmah of Bharmour.

    Read more about GIs at:

    GI(Geographical Indicator) Tags

    Which are the five HP products?

    • Karsog Kulth: Kulthi or Kulth (horse gram) is a legume grown as a kharif crop in Himachal Pradesh. Kulth grown in the Karsog area of Mandi district is believed to be particularly rich in amino acids.
    • Pangi ki Thangi: It is a type of hazelnut which grows in Pangi valley located in the northwestern edge of Himachal. It is known for its unique flavour and sweetness.
    • Chamba metal crafts: These include items such as metal idols and brass utensils which, historically, were made by skilled artisans in the courts of kings of Chamba. There are efforts to revive the trade, and a plate made from a brass-like alloy and having carvings of gods and goddesses is still popular.
    • Chamba Chukh: It’s a chutney made from green and red chillies grown in Chamba, and prepared in traditional and unique ways. The practice has largely declined in rural households of Chamba, but survives to some extent at the small-scale industrial level.
    • Bharmouri Rajmah: It’s more specifically called the Kugtalu Rajmah, since it grows in the area around Kugti Pass in the Bharmour region of Chamba district. It is rich in proteins and has a unique flavor.

    How many registered GIs does Himachal currently have?

    • They are eight in number.
    • It includes four handicrafts (Kullu Shawl, Chamba Rumal, Kinnauri Shawl and Kangra Paintings).
    • There are three agricultural products (Kangra Tea, Basmati and Himachali Kala Zeera) and one manufactured product (Himachali Chulli Oil).
    • Kullu Shawl and Kangra Tea were the first to be registered in 2005-06.
    • Basmati has been registered jointly from seven states of North India, including Himachal Pradesh.
    • Chulli (apricot) oil and kala jeera (cumin), mainly associated with Kinnaur and known for their medicinal properties, were the last to be registered in 2018-19.

    How does a GI tag help?

    • A GI tag provides a better market for these products and prevents misuse of the name.
    • A GI registration is given to an area, not a trader, but once a product gets the registration, traders dealing in the product can apply for selling it with the GI logo.
    • Authorised traders are each assigned a unique GI number. For example, Kullu shawl has 135 authorised traders. A shawl made in Ludhiana cannot be sold as a Kullu shawl.
    • If any unauthorised trader, even from Kullu, tries to sell a shawl under the name of Kullu shawl, he or she can be prosecuted under The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
    • GIs are also expected to boost or revive the items whose production has declined, as is being aimed in the case of Chamba Chukh and metal crafts.

    Back2Basics: Geographical Indication (GI)

    • The World Intellectual Property Organisation defines a GI as “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”.
    • GIs are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, handicrafts, industrial products, wines and spirit drinks.
    • Internationally, GIs are covered as an element of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
    • They are also covered under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
    • Presently, there are 370 registered GIs in India.

  • Species in news: Red Sea Turtles

    Turtle populations in the Red Sea could be turning overwhelmingly female because of a rise in sea temperatures caused due to anthropogenic climate change, a new study has showed.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following fauna of India:

    1. Gharial
    2. Leatherback turtle
    3. Swamp deer

    Which of the above is/are endangered?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 3

    (d) None

    Red Sea Turtles

    • There are seven extant species worldwide, five of which can be found in the Red Sea: the green turtle, the hawksbill turtle, the loggerhead turtle, the olive ridley turtle and the leatherback turtle.
    • In order to maintain a 50:50 ratio of male and female in the population, a temperature of 29.2 degrees Celsius is pivotal.
    • Above this, hatchlings would be predominantly female.
    • The sand temperatures at four of the sites exceeded 29.2 degrees; leading the team to the conclusion that ‘feminization’ of the population could be already happening.

    Their significance

    • Marine turtles—as all top predators—have a prominent role in maintaining balanced and healthy ecosystems, in particular seagrass beds and coral reefs.
    • They also help in transporting nutrients towards naturally nutrient-poor ecosystems (the nesting beaches), and providing food and transportation for other marine species (e.g., barnacles and commensal crabs).
    • Marine turtles also play an important role in the economy of the tourism industry.

  • HL-2M Tokamak: The Artificial Sun of China

    China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time marking a great advance in the country’s nuclear power research capabilities.

    Scratch your school basics to answer this PYQ:

    Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force.

    With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct? (CSP 2012)

    (a) Gravity is the strongest of the four

    (b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge

    (c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity

    (d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.

    HL-2M Tokamak

    • The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device.
    • The mission is named Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).
    • Located in Sichuan province and completed late last year, the reactor is often called an “artificial sun” on account of the enormous heat and power it produces.
    • It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius- approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun.
    • Scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source.

    Back2Basics: Nuclear Fusion

    • Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons).
    • Fusion is the process by which the sun and other stars generate light and heat. It is a nuclear process, where energy is produced by smashing together light atoms.
    • It is the opposite reaction of fission, where heavy elements like Uranium and Thorium are split apart.

    Nuclear Fusion Reaction

    • For a nuclear fusion reaction to occur, it is necessary to bring two nuclei so close that nuclear forces become active and glue the nuclei together.
    • Nuclear forces are small-distance forces and have to act against the electrostatic forces where positively charged nuclei repel each other.
    • This is the reason nuclear fusion reactions occur mostly in high density, high-temperature environment (millions of degree Celsius) which is practically very difficult to achieve under laboratory conditions.

  • Surveyor-2 Spacecraft

    NASA has confirmed that the Near-Earth Object called 2020 SO is the rocket booster that helped lift the space agency’s Surveyor spacecraft toward the Moon in 1966.

    Try this PYQ:

    Consider the following phenomena:

    1. Size of the sun at dusk
    2. Colour of the sun at dawn
    3. Moon being visible at dawn
    4. Twinkle of stars in the sky
    5. Polestar being visible in the sky

    Which of the above are optical illusions?

    (a) 1, 2 and 3

    (b) 3, 4 and 5

    (c) 1, 2 and 4

    (d) 2, 3 and 5

    What is Surveyor-2?

    • The Surveyor-2 spacecraft was supposed to make a soft landing on the Moon’s surface in September 1966, during which time one of the three thrusters failed to ignite.
    • As a result of this the spacecraft started spinning and crashed on the surface.
    • The aim of the mission was to reconnoiter the lunar surface ahead of the Apollo missions that led to the first lunar landing in 1969.
    • While the spacecraft crashed into the Moon’s surface, the rocket booster disappeared into an unknown orbit around the Sun.

    How was the object determined to be the rocket booster?

    • Astronomers track asteroids using telescope to determine if there are potentially hazardous asteroids that pose a threat to the planet.
    • Therefore, it is also important for them to be able to distinguish between natural and artificial objects that orbit around the Sun.
    • The rocket booster has come “somewhat close” to the Earth in the past few decades.
    • One approach to the Earth in late 1966 was so close that the object was thought to have originated from Earth.
    • In September, the NASA-funded telescope detected it.

  • Arecibo Radio Telescope

    A massive radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory — one of the world’s largest — collapsed on after sustaining severe damage, following 57 years of astronomical discoveries.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidence for the continued expansion of the universe?

    1. Detection of microwaves in space
    2. Observation of redshirt phenomenon in space
    3. Movement of asteroids in space
    4. Occurrence of supernova explosions in space

    Codes:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1, 3 and 4

    (d) None of the above can be cited as evidence.

    Arecibo Telescope

    • The Arecibo Observatory, also known as the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), was an observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico owned by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).
    • It was the world’s largest single-aperture telescope for 53 years, surpassed in July 2016 by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China.
    • The second-largest single-dish radio telescope in the world, it had withstood many hurricanes and earthquakes since it was first built in 1963.

    Its contributions

    • Being the most powerful radar, scientists employed Arecibo to observe planets, asteroids and the ionosphere.
    • It made several discoveries over the decades, including finding prebiotic molecules in distant galaxies, the first exoplanets, and the first millisecond pulsar.
    • In 1967, Arecibo was able to discover that the planet Mercury rotates in 59 days and not 88 days as had been originally thought.
    • In the following decades, it also served as a hub in the search for extraterrestrial life, and would look for radio signals from alien civilizations.
    • In 1993, scientists Russell Hulse and Joseph Taylor were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the observatory in monitoring a binary pulsar.
    • It provided a strict test of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and the first evidence for the existence of gravitational waves.

  • Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)

    A powerful new telescope ASKAP, in Australia has mapped vast areas of the universe in record-breaking time, revealing a million new galaxies and opening the way to new discoveries.

    Note all important telescopes in news and their features. Some of them are – Thirty Meter Telescope, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, Spitzer, Chandra etc.

    What is ASKAP?

    • ASKAP is a telescope designed over a decade ago and located about 800 km north of Perth.
    • It became fully operational in February 2019 and is currently conducting pilot surveys of the sky before it can begin large-scale projects from 2021 onward.
    • ASKAP surveys are designed to map the structure and evolution of the Universe, which it does by observing galaxies and the hydrogen gas that they contain.
    • One of its most important features is its wide field of view, because of which it has been able to take panoramic pictures of the sky in great detail.
    • The telescope uses novel technology developed by CSIRO- the Australian space agency, which is a kind of a “radio camera” to achieve high survey speeds and consists of 36 dish antennas, which are each 12m in diameter.
    • The survey team has been able to observe over 83 per cent of the sky visible from ASKAP’s site in Western Australia.

    Significance of the results

    • The present Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) taken by the ASKAP telescope is like a “Google map” of the Universe.
    • Mapping the Universe on such a scale enables astronomers to study the formation of stars and how galaxies and their supermassive black holes evolve and interact with each other.
    • Significantly, the images the telescope has taken are on average deeper and have better spatial resolution compared to those taken during other surveys of the sky.
    • The aim of the RACS survey is to generate images that will aid future surveys undertaken using the telescope.

  • Representation of Women in Judiciary

    Attorney-General has told the Supreme Court that more women judges in constitutional courts would certainly improve gender sensitivity in the judiciary.

    Q.Women judges could bring a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective of gender sensitivity in the judiciary. Discuss.

    Women in Judiciary: A dismal figure

    • The Supreme Court has only two women judges as against a sanctioned strength of 34 judges.
    • There has never been a female Chief Justice. This figure is consistently low across the higher judiciary.
    • There are only 80 women judges out of the sanctioned strength of 1,113 judges in the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
    • Only two of these 80 women judges are in the Supreme Court and the other 78 are in various High Courts, comprising only 7.2% of the number of judges.
    • There are six High Courts — Manipur, Meghalaya, Patna, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand — where there are no sitting women judges.

    A short timeline

    • The first female Judge appointed in Supreme Court was Justice M. Fathima Beevi from Kerala in 1987.
    • She was later followed by Justice Sujata V. Manohar from Maharashtra in 1994 and in the year 2000, Justice Ruma Pal was appointed from West Bengal.
    • And in the year 2010, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra from Bihar was appointed.
    • In 2014, Justice Ranjana Desai from Mumbai was appointed and currently, Justice R. Banumathi from Tamil Nadu is the only woman judge in Supreme Court.

    (Note: This data might be useful for State PSCs or other exams. UPSC aspirants need not remember this.)

    What did the A-G say?

    • Improving the representation of women could go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases involving sexual violence.
    • Judges need to be trained to place themselves in the shoes of the victim of sexual violence while passing orders, said the AG.
    • There is a dearth of compulsory courses in gender sensitization in law schools.
    • Certain law schools have the subject either as a specialization or as an elective.

    Why need more women in Judiciary?

    • The entry of women judges into spaces from which they had historically been excluded has been a positive step in the direction of judiciaries being perceived as being more transparent, inclusive, and representative.
    • By their mere presence, women judges enhance the legitimacy of courts, sending a powerful signal that they are open and accessible to those who seek recourse to justice.
    • They could contribute far more to justice than improving its appearance: they also contribute significantly to the quality of decision-making, and thus to the quality of justice itself.
    • Women judges bring those lived experiences to their judicial actions, experiences that tend toward a more comprehensive and empathetic perspective.
    • By elucidating how laws and rulings can be based on gender stereotypes, or how they might have a different impact on women and men, a gender perspective enhances the fairness of the adjudication.

  • [pib] E-Sanjeevani Telemedicine Service

    In a landmark achievement, eSanjeevani, Health Ministry’s national telemedicine initiative today completed 9 lakh consultations.

    Although telemedicine brings with it many benefits, there are some downsides to it as well. Discuss.

    What is E-Sanjeevani?

    • Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched two variants of eSanjeevani namely – doctor to doctor (eSanjeevani AB-HWC) in the hub and spoke model and patient to doctor (eSanjeevaniOPD).
    • E-Sanjeevani OPD (out-patient department) is a telemedicine variant for the public to seek health services remotely; it was rolled out on 13th of April 2020 during the first lockdown in the country.
    • It enables virtual meetings between the patients and doctors & specialists from geographically dispersed locations, through video conferencing that occurs in real-time.
    • At the end of these remote consultations, eSanjeevani generates electronic prescriptions which can be used for sourcing medicines.
    • Andhra Pradesh was the first state to roll out eSanjeevani AB-HWC services in November 2019.

    Benefits of telemedicine

    Telemedicine benefits patients in the following ways:

    • Transportation: Patients can avoid spending gas money or wasting time in traffic with video consultations.
    • No missing work: Today, individuals can schedule a consultation during a work break or even after work hours.
    • Childcare/Eldercare Challenges: Those who struggle to find care options can use telemedicine solutions.